Counting Stars
by Bloodredmoon42
Summary: Oceanne moves to Teufort with hopes of becoming a Mercenary by using her magic. She succeeds and becomes Enchantress but gets more than she expected.
1. Welcome to Teufort

I sighed as I walked off the train and onto the platform with my violin case and breathed in the dusty air of Teufort. I walked to collect my trunks, they were filled with mainly books but they also had a few other sorted possessions. I wasn't very materialistic so I didn't have much. I already had a small apartment picked out so I walked to it with my possessions, and violin case. I stopped by the Landlord's office and he gave me my keys and helped me carry my trunks up the stairs, he seemed friendly enough, but he didn't speak. I unlocked my door, pulled my luggage in and gave my Landlord an envelope containing two months worth of rent.

"And your name is?" He asked, it was the first time I heard him speak.

"Oh uh Oceanne Carter" I answered with a smile. He nodded and closed the door as he left, I looked around my new apartment, it was rather simple. It had basic furniture, a couch in the living room, a bed, wardrobe and bookshelf in the bedroom, it had a kitchen, a bathroom, an extra room, and that was it. It didn't take long to unpack. I smiled as I looked into the empty room. "_Now for the fun part"_ I thought. I closed the door, snapped and opened the door again. Instead of an empty room with a desk, the floor and walls were made of stone, there was an empty cauldron in the center of room and the walls were covered with shelves lined with ingredients, empty vials, recipe books, and different items and knick-knacks that just help along with my magic. With unpacking out of the way I practiced my violin until about 11, it didn't bother anyone because I cast a spell around my apartment that muffled sound, I didn't cast it to it's full power though and I always take it off when I'm not playing violin . I walked into the bathroom, brushed my teeth and my long, dark brown wavy hair and got into bed. The nightmares weren't that bad that night.

In the morning I decided to get a job, I dragged myself out of bed and cleaned myself up. I locked my apartment and walked to the town notice board. I didn't see much there so I explored the town a bit. After a while I did found a poster on the town pub saying they needed a bartender "_The Drunk Mercenary"_ the sign read . I walked in and saw few people sitting at tables, I guessed as much because it was only 2 o'clock in the afternoon. I walked up to the bar counter and sat down, the current bartender walked up to me.

"Hi there, what can I get ya?" He asked

"Actually..." I answered "I saw a poster about a bartender being needed." He looked me up and down and nodded.

"Ok… Please come this way." I nodded, hopped off the stool and followed him. He brought me to the back and asked my sizes. "Do you have any experience bar-tending?" I nodded.

"I was a bartender when I lived in the city." I explained. He smiled.

"It will be a lot more simple here, we don't have fancy drinks and we don't get as many customers as those big clubs in the city. We still get plenty but not as much. So full time or part time?"

"Full time." I replied. He gave me my shifts and uniform which was a pair of black leggings and a black blouse with the pub's logo on the back. Things went really well for the first few weeks, the job paid well and I made a few friends.

One night on a Saturday it was about 8 o'clock and I was cleaning and heard a few customers, I looked up and saw 9 men sit down on the bar stools, they were very loud and from what I heard, quite diverse.

"Aye lassie," The Scotsman called over, "Your largest beer." I nodded and made my way over to the tap. As I poured his beer, I noticed they were all quite different, some were more sophisticated some seemed insane, others were reserved and some were just loud mouthed. I gave the Scotsman his beer and started to fill out the other orders. The Aussie, Russian, the one in the flame retardant suit, the Texan, and the loud mouthed one in the hat that covered his eyes joined the Scotsman on the beer. As I served the beer to the one in the flame retardant suit, he looked up at me, so I just smiled and gave him a straw. The German and the Frenchman ordered a Gin and Tonic so I quickly mixed that up for them. When I got to the last one, he just asked for a Bonk! Atomic Punch. I smiled and handed the drink to him, he smile too.

"What's a pretty girl like you doin' in a place like this?" He asked with a wink. Noticing all the other customers were busy, I decided to talk.

"I just moved to Teufort a couple weeks ago, I used to live in Canada and was tired of the big city, so I decided to become independent and move, this is the place I chose." I explained.

"Canada huh? I heard it's pretty cold up there." I laughed in agreement. "What's your name gorgeous?" I blushed a little.

"Oceanne" I answered, "What about you?"

"Names Scout." He answered with a smile. We talked for a while, even after the customers (Not including the 9) left.

"I like this job," I explained to Scout, "but I'm looking something more exciting."

"Well…" Scout replied, "We are looking for a new…" but Scout was cut off by the loud one with the over sized helmet.

"SCOUT! Get over here! Your the DD!" I looked up and saw the 9 getting up to leave.

"Well I guess I have to go." Scout turned back to me and said.

"Will I ever see you again?" I asked with worried tone that was NOT intended

"Oh… it's hard to get ridda this guy" Scout answered with a smirk.

I smiled back at him and he left, I walked to the door and looked it so so more customers would come in. I watched through the window and saw him put a poster on the town notice board, get into the drivers seat of the giant van the 9 were in and drive off.

After I cleaned up and clocked out, I walked over to the notice board and saw the poster that Scout put up, it said:

Wanted

Red Mercenary

**Must have**

**-Fighting Skills**

**-Fighting Experience**

**-Strong Stomach and Mind**

**If interested call at 202-555-******

"_Well," _I said to myself, "_I'm going to have to make a phone call"_


	2. The Test

I sat on my bed staring at my phone, I have never been more nervous to make a call. Maybe it's because the call was extremely important. I looked at the sticky note with the number on it and typed it into my phone, I held it up to my ear and heard it ringing, I swear I had been more nervous in my life. I heard a small but serious voice on the other end of the line.

"Hello?" The voice said.

"Uh… Hi…" I replied "Is this Miss Pauline?"

"Yes, how can I help you?"

"I'm calling about the Wanted Ad."

"Okay but I need you to answer a few questions" I nodded knowing full well that she couldn't see me. "First of all, do you have any fighting experience?" She asked.

"Yes I do." I answered.

"Alright, do you have a strong stomach and mind?" She asked

"Yes, I would say so." I answered, she continued with the questions for a while and finally stopped after about 15 minutes.

"Ok, we bring you in for test training." She told me.

"Ok but I have a condition, if I do not get the job, you must not tell a single soul of what you see at the test training." I explained

"You have my word." I heard the voice say, she gave me an address and a time then hung up. I sighed, now I was even more nervous, if I didn't get this job, I would be stuck at my boring one. I decided to practice cello for a change, I took my violin and it started to glow. It stretched until it was the size of a cello and stopped glowing. I could turn a base instrument (my violin) into any instrument I wanted. I practiced "Secrets" by Onerepublic until my fingers were sore and my mind was clear. When my mind was clear, I started practicing magic, it would be a big day tomorrow and I wanted to make sure my magic was in it's best shape. After practicing for a while, I was exhausted, using magic takes a physical toll on my body. I just lasted 5 hours, so I hoped I wouldn't be needing to use magic constantly for 5 hours. It also takes more energy from me if I cast a bigger spell, like summoning my elemental golems for example, I can only cast 4 of those per day.

I woke up early, had a shower, got ready and left the house with worried thoughts, very worried thoughts. I realized I had no way of getting to the location, I had no car and Miss Pauline asked me to come alone so I couldn't hitch-hike. I sighed as I snapped my fingers and a magic carpet appeared, I got it a couple years ago at a garage sale, it was a normal rug then so I just enchanted it. I sat down on it and it whisked me away, it was very fast, it only took a few minutes to get to the location. When I got to the location, all I saw was the husk of what looked like a building made of sandstone. I landed the magic carpet, got off, snapped my fingers and it disappeared. I was 15 minutes early so I decided to sit down for a bit so I could gather my senses, the nervousness was making me weary. I kept telling myself that I would do fine and I would totally get the job, not many people were as experienced as I was with magic so I was a good catch. I took a deep breath as I stood up, I walked through the doorway of the empty building only to discover the entire back of the building was gone. Standing in the middle of the husk, was a woman. She had dark hair pulled back in a tight bun, she wore a purple skirt and suit jacket with a white blouse and black glasses. She had a tired but emotionless look on her face and she carried clipboard. I walked up to her.

"Uh… Hi… Are you Miss Pauline?" I asked her.

"I am, and you must be Oceanne," I nodded, "Now you did great on the question portion, but we need to see how you hold in a fight. There are drones that are trying to attack you, you must defend yourself in anyway possible. If you can, try to use all of your abilities so we can get a good taste of what fighting beside you in a battle would be like." She explained. I tilted my head in confusion,

"Who is we?" I asked noticing Miss Pauline was the only other person in the ruined building.

"Oh yes." Miss Pauline replied while gesturing towards the wall, on it there was something that looked like a security camera. "I should have mentioned, you are also being watched by the Administrator, she is the one who makes the final decision" I nodded while Miss Pauline started walking towards a medium sized box made out of blast proof material. "_Holy crap!_" I thought to myself, "_What the hell is going to happen!?_" but before I could think of anything else, a small robot appeared what seemed out of know where and started shooting at me. I quickly put up a ward with one arm and realized I had been shot in the leg. It hurt like hell so I cast my healing spell and the bullet wound seemed to disappear as did the pain. I leaned around my ward and shot lightning at the robot and he slowly crumpled down. Three more awakened and I decided to use fire this time, they went down easily. This went on for a while and I used every spell that I would consider useful in a fight. I realized I didn't have much mana left and there were more robots than I could handle, I slowly raised my hands and the earth started shaking around me, chunks of earth were rising up from the ground and assembling themselves into what looked like a giant person. I finished making my earth golem and it looked towards me to get instructions.

"Kill." I muttered as I pointed to the robots. I stood back as I watched my golem smash the robots, rip them apart and destroy them. When all the robots were in pieces, they stopped appearing. I snapped my fingers and my golem collapsed into rubble. I looked over at the bomb shelter Miss Pauline was in and she walked out with a very surprised look on her face. She listened to something in her earpiece and walked over to me.

"I'm happy to tell you, you got the job." She announced, a large smile crept across my face and her face went back to being serious. "You will be picked up the day after tomorrow at the town notice board at 11:30 am, I suggest you sell your living arrangements as you will be living at the compound from now on." She explained, "As for your possessions, if you can carry it all at once, you can bring it. You will be picked up by Sniper, he will be in a white van. Your room will be like everyone else, but due to you being a female and all the others being male, you will have separate washroom." I breathed a small sigh of relief. "I am looking forward to working with you, Enchantress." I was confused.

"Enchantress?" I asked

"Yes, Enchantress. All mercenaries are known by their code name. Sadly, some of them have even forgotten their real name." She explained as she looked down at her clipboard. I nodded but realized I still had one question

"Umm… Miss Pauline?" I nervously questioned. She looked up. "What are the regulations on having a relationship with the other mercenaries?" Miss Pauline blushed a little.

"Well… Technically it is alright, I am in a relationship with Medic, but the Administrator explained if it interrupted, or distracted us from our work, she would make it a rule that we would not be allowed to." She acknowledged. "You are free to go." I nodded and walked to the road. I snapped my fingers and my magic carpet appeared.

When I got back to town, I went straight to my landlord that would be gone by the end of the week but he could keep the money I had already paid for that month. He seemed kind of shocked that I would be leaving so quickly but I explained it was for work. He nodded and I went back to my apartment to sleep. In the morning, I gathered all the books I didn't read and the things I never used, I put them in my trunk. I brought them to the town pawn shop and sold them all, even the trunk, for a fairly good price. I used some of that money to buy a duffel bag and lunch at the diner. I went home and packed everything I didn't sell, which was my small wardrobe, my favourite books, and toiletries into my duffel bag. I went to the pub and told the bartender that I really liked working there, but I had to quit because I found a different job and it's something I really love doing. He smiled and said no hard feelings. I walked home and slept, that night's nightmare was pretty bad, but manageable. I woke up and got ready, threw the rest of the stuff in the duffel bag, grabbed the duffel bag and my violin case, and walked to the notice board. I woke up pretty late so I had to do this quickly, thankfully making it to the notice board with 10 minutes to spare. I sat down and waited, I noticed that the poster advertising the postion for the new mercenary was gone.

At 11:30 sharp, I looked down the road and saw a white van driving over the horizon. It was going pretty fast, and skidded to a stop next to the notice board. In the drivers seat was a man in his early 30s, he had a stubble on his chin and was wearing a red shirt with a vest, he rolled down the window to speak.

"You Oceanne?" He asked with an australian accent.

"Yes," replied "but you can call me Enchantress, or Tress for short."

"Alright Tress, throw ya stuff in the back and get in." The man instructed. I nodded with a smile and did what was asked of me. When I got in the van, he drove away.

"I'm gonna be honest," he explained "none of us are expecting ya, we know we are gettin anotha mercenary but we don't know when or who. Miss Pauline just caught me as I was walking out the door and said I had to drive to town to pick up the new mercenary. She told me your name, that you would be waiting at the notice board, and you were a girl. No offence, but I was quite shocked to find out you were a Sheila, and I wont be the only one."

"Well not many women choose to have a job like this, I do on the other hand." I stated "What's your name by the way? You know mine but I don't know yours."

"It's Sniper." He told, " I noticed you have an instrument case of some kind, do you play?"

"Yup," I happily answered, "I can play many things but I mostly play the violin and cello." Sniper smiled. We talked a little on the way to the compound but not much. When we got there I saw Miss Pauline standing outside a large building. I jumped out and went to grab my stuff from the back. I saw Miss Pauline whisper something in his ear before he nodded and walked in. I walked up to Miss Pauline and she smiled.

"Welcome to the Red Base," she greeted, "for now just leave your stuff here and I'll introduce you to the guys. None of them except Sniper know your coming or that your a girl, so be prepared for them to be surprised." I nodded with a smile and she walked through the door. I heard her say something along the lines of "Come over here guys, you have a new mercenary and I want you to meet them." I also heard a strong scottish accent say "Well what are ya waiting for? Bring the lad in!" I silently giggled and stepped through the door.


	3. Meeting Some New People

I could feel many eyes burning into me, the feeling itself made me want to sit down and cry. Was something wrong with me? Was I a disappointment? I looked up and saw 9 men, some sitting at the kitchen long kitchen table, some standing, all with shocked looks on their faces, except Sniper, who was trying to conceal a smirk. I smiled.

"Hi, my name Enchantress, but you can call me Tress." I introduced myself. Miss Pauline walked over to me and introduced the other mercenaries to me, there was Heavy, Medic, Engineer or Engie, Spy, Pyro, Soldier, Demoman or Demo, Scout, and I had already met Sniper. By now, some of them were relaxed, I brought my stuff in and Miss Pauline said goodbye and left, but not before giving Medic a kiss on the cheek. Medic promptly blushed while a few of the guys snickered and teased. Scout walked up to me.

"Oceanne, what are ya doin' here?" He asked, I honestly was shocked that he remembered my name, as he didn't seem like the kind of guy that would.

"I am a mercenary now." I said with a smile, "It's Tress now by the way." He smiled back.

"Lemme show ya to your room." Scout suggested, I nodded and started following him to the staircase. "Here, lemme take that for ya," Scout said said as he gestured towards my violin case that was now a cello case, I realized I might have accidentally transformed it in my nervousness.

"No, I got it." I tried to say but Scout cut me off.

"I insist." Scout adamantly stated. I shrugged with a smile and handed him the case. I followed him up the staircase that led to a long hall, there were rooms on each side and what looked like a lab at the end. Scout opened the fourth door on the right and set the case down. I looked around, it was a simple room, with a bed, a closet, a dresser, a desk with a mirror, and a night table. I set my duffle bag down on the bed and turned around.

"So… Afta ya get settled you can come on down, it's almost time to eat and Engie's cookin' tonight." I smiled and he left. I put my clothes into the dresser and opened the closet to find my uniform, there was a white, strapless blouse, that was attached to a red corset with dark brown ribbons and bows. "_Sort of girly, but it's what they want me to wear_" I thought to myself. I shrugged and put my cello case in the closet. I put away my books and the few other things I had. I walked down the stairs into the kitchen. A few of the guys were already eating so I walked up to the table.

"Hey Tress," Engie said with a smile, I smiled back. "Stuff you need is on the counter and the burgers are in the frying pan."

"Thanks." I replied, I fixed up my burger and sat down at the end of the table, next to Heavy and across from Spy.

"So…" I heard Heavy mutter, "Where is leetle girl from?"

"Oh, I'm from Canada!" I answered.

"Canada?" Heavy asked.

"Yes Canada, the Great White North, it's north of America." I explained. "Most people call it the other America, but we are very different."

"Oh… Heavy is not good with geography." I heard him apologize.

"It's okay." I said with a smile, Heavy smiled back and went to eating. Spy took a puff from his cigarette.

"I heard Canada is bilingual, parlez-vous français?" Spy asked, I smirked.

"Oui, nous sommes tenus de l'apprendre à l'école" I answered. Spy smiled.

"Il sera agréable d'avoir quelqu'un qui parle ma langue maternelle ici." Spy stated

"Personne d'autre ne parle ici française?" I asked.

"Malheureusement pas." Spy replied

"Eh bien content que je peux vous faire des frais plus à la maison." I warmly said.

"Je dois prendre mon congé, bonsoir ma petite sorcière." Spy said as he put his cigarette out in the ashtray, stood up and left. After everyone finished Demo suggested we celebrate, they brought me up to the roof and handed me a beer, and opened it and smelled the drink, being a bartender I knew what date-rape drug smelled like. I just met these men and I couldn't be too careful. It smelled fine so I drank it, I really needed it to calm down.

"We should let the new girl choose the music." I heard Engie say as he set a medium sized stereo on the table. I shrugged and handed him the mixtape I almost forgot I had, he popped it in and my music started playing. There was some Green Day, some One Republic, a few other things, I was socializing with a few of the other mercs, some of them recognized me as the bartender from the weekend. I perked when "Ain't no mountain high enough" started playing, it was my favourite song. I started humming along with it as I went to grab another drink when I heard a loud voice say from behind me "I LOVE dis song". I quickly turned around to see it was Scout, who happened to be right behind me.

"Heya gorgeous, wanna dance?" Scout asked as he gestured his hand towards me, I blushed a little. "Ey, no need to be shy!" Scout confirmed.

"Ok then" I cautiously said as I took his hand. He brought me to the other side of the roof where people were not, most of them were preoccupied with playing poker. He grabbed my right hand and put his other hand on the small of my back, his frame was sturdy and comforting. We danced to the music and I didn't realize that I had started singing the song, I was so used to being alone and singing along when this song came on I almost forgot some one was close to me, like, really close.

"You have a real pretty singin' voice" I heard Scout whisper, I came back to my senses and blushed.

"Oh… ya… I'm sorry" I apologized.

"Nah it's ok, in fact, I'm gonna join ya" Scout said with a smile, I smiled back and softly sang with him, he wasn't amazing, but he was pretty good and it was adorable. When the song finished, Scout thanked me for the dance and gave me a kiss on the hand. I was buzzing. Scout gave me a wink and went to join the other guys in their game. I told them I was tired and was going to turn in. I made my way to my room and grabbed my toiletries. I went into the hall and closed my door, I saw my bathroom on the way here and walked towards it. Suddenly one of the doors on my left opened and I was pulled in. I heard the door slam and a small click that must have been the lock, I felt a large body pressed up against mine and a large hand grab both of mine, I smelled whiskey and immediately knew it was Demo and he was drunk. I tried to scream but immediately his lips were mashed against mine, he tasted like whiskey too, I already felt his tongue trying to force it's way into my mouth but I resisted. Demo noticed this and used his free hand to caress my breast, I let out a small yelp and Demo took the opportunity to jam his tongue down my throat. "_This can not be happening!_" I thought to myself as I tried to push Demo off me but it was useless.


	4. These People are Alright

I decided to start kicking the wall I was pushed up against to try to get someone's attention. Almost immediately I heard knocking at the door and a voice on the other side.

"Demo, open up! Demo?" I heard Spy's voice on the other side of the door, when he didn't hear a response I heard a small clicking noise and the door open. I instantly felt Demo being pulled off me, I slid down the wall so I was sitting. When I looked, Demo was on the ground, and Spy extended a hand towards me to help me up. I accepted his hand and stood up.

"What happened?" Spy asked with legitimate concern in his voice.

"I was walking down the hall when Demo pulled me into his room and started sexually assaulting me!" I explained with a not-no-subtle tinge of anger in my voice.

"The lass was asking for it." Demo said in a slurred voice, "I haven't seen a women in months! Did you expect me to not try to get some!?" At that I saw Spy was fuming, he grabbed Demo by the scruff of his shirt and pulled him to his feet, he practically dragged Demo out of the room. I followed closely behind. When we got to the roof, Spy threw Demo on the ground, interrupting the game the guys were in.

"What the hell maggot?!" Soldier barked.

"This fils de pute just disrespected one of our colleagues in the worst way possible." Spy yelled.

"What could be so bad?" Soldier demanded, still upset that his game was interrupted.

"Demo attempted to rape Tress." Spy coldly stated. I barely saw what happened next as it happened so fast. Scout jumped up from the table,practically ran towards Demo, and punched him in the face. Demo coughed up blood and laughed.

"You thought bringing the lass here was a good idea?" Demo questioned.

"It shouldn't matter if she is male, female, both or neither!" Scout yelled, "You will learn to respect her, as you respect me, Spy, or anyone else on this team!"

"Oh don't act you don't want to do her as well." Demo scoffed. Scout just sighed.

"Maybe I do. Maybe I don't." Scout answered "Maybe the other guys on the team want to as well, but at least we have enough dignity and respect to ask her first, and deal with her decision " Demo looked down, stood up, wiped the blood off his mouth and walked towards me.

"Miss Tress, I apologize" Demo stated, he staggered away. Scout walked up to and gave me a hug.

"You ok there Tress?" Scout asked.

"I'm fine," I answered "just a little shaken up."

"I'll escort her to her room." Spy interrupted.

I nodded and started to follow Spy.

"Night Tress." Scout said in a last attempt to comfort me, it didn't really make me feel better but I smiled to make him feel good.

"He must really care about you." Spy stated while taking out a cigarette. I looked at him with a look of utter confusion on my face. "I've never seen him more defensive of well... Anyone!" I started to blush.

"Ok... Well... Goodnight." I stated as I quickly opened my door and walked into my room.

"bonsoir ma petite sorcière." Spy replied as I closed the door. I didn't want to deal with anyone else so I quickly went to bed.

Scout's Point of View

I sat down at the table to finish the game, I was losing, like usual, and Heavy was winning, as usual.

"So who's turn is it?" I said, trying to lighten the mood. The other guys kept staring at me. "What?"

"Vhere did zhat come from?" Medic ask, he seemed to speak for the whole group.

"What? The standin up for Tress?" I asked, the group simultaneously nodded.

"Well... I... Uh" I stuttered while trying to come up with an excuse, "I was angry at Demo! He should have more control over his... Instinct... Even when he's drunk" (not really good enough but too late to change my excuse) I thought to myself as we finished our game that medic won, our drinks, and went to bed.

Tress' point of view

I'm not really a early riser but I decided to get up early anyways. I got up early so I could take a shower in peace. I walked into the bathroom and got in the shower.

I turned on the hot water and relaxed my muscles, I was sore from sleeping sitting up, but I had to sleep that way because of my nightmare. I didn't take a long shower, just long enough to get clean. I quickly went back to my room and got ready. I was starving so I decided to make some pancakes. I searched through the cupboards for the ingredients and found everything I needed, except maple syrup, well they had syrup but being Canadian, I needed maple syrup. Thankfully, I bought some before I came to the compound, so I grabbed it and brought it to the kitchen. I mixed up the batter as I heated up the pan. I wondered how many I should make. (Well there's 10 of us) thought to myself as I started making a few. With the certain recipe I make, they are really filling, I could only eat 3. Doing the mental math distracted me and I almost burned the pancake I was making. I heard a sound and quickly turned around to find Pyro sitting at the table, playing with a lighter, I could tell it was their designed seat at the part of table in front of them was charred.

"Uh... Good-morning Pyro." I stuttered. Pyro looked straight at me (god they scare me). Pyro waved and their mask started to look like a smile. "I want to make pancakes for everyone but I don't know many to make, could you help me out?" I explained as I relaxed a bit. Pyro nodded as they stood up and walked up me, they got out a plate and held their hand above it. At first I was confused but I soon realized what he meant.

"So I should make a stack that high?" I asked, Pyro just nodded and went back to playing with the lighter. When I was about halfway through making the stack, Heavy and Medic came down the stairs.

"Vhat is that smell?" Medic asked as he looked at Pyro, Pyro just pointed at me.

"What are you doing leetle girl?" Heavy asked as he walked to me, with a cocked eyebrow.

"Oh... I'm making pancakes!" I answered "do you want any?"

"Yes but... Even for Demo after... Last night?" Heavy questioned.

"Yes, I try to leave the past behind me." I replied with certainty. "Help yourself, but I should warn you, they are filling." Heavy shrugged with a smile and got himself a plate, Medic and Pyro followed. When Medic reached for the syrup, he stopped.

"Vhere is our syrup?" Medic asked with a confused look on his face.

"Oh it's gone." I answered "But I have some Canadian maple syrup that's so much better." Medic shrugged with a smile and sat down to start eating. The other guys came down and started eating as well.

"Good Morning." Miss Pauline stated as she walked in, "ok today Medic you have to give Tress a physical and give her an über." (I guess Miss Pauline does this on a regular basis) "Soldier please test Tress' physical capabilities, oh and Demo... Please come with me." Demo snapped up at the sound of his name and quickly stood up and followed Miss Pauline. Everyone quickly finished their breakfast.

"I'll clean up." I offered but Heavy shook his head.

"Heavy will clean. Leetle girl must see Docktor." Heavy insisted.

"Alright." I said with a shrug.

"This vay Fräulein." Medic motioned and I followed. We made our way to his lab and motioned for me to sit on the examining table, which I did. Medic checked all the main points and seemed surprised.

"You are surprisingly healthy Fräulein." Medic stated.

"Well whenever I use my spell of healing, I don't just heal physical wounds, it also cleanses my body of anything negative." I explained.

"Spell of Healing?" Medic asked, "vould you care to show me?" I nodded and grabbed the scalpel on the tray. I made a small incision in my leg and grunted from the pain. I raised my hands slightly and light that was slightly tinted yellow started emitting from my hands. I looked down at my leg and the cut slowly started to disappear until it looked as if it never was there. I looked back at Medic and he looked very shocked.

"H-how long have you been able to do zhat?" Medic asked.

"Oh uh... A while." I replied, "why are you asking." That seemed to bring Medic back to his senses.

"No matter, I vas just curious. Now to perform the Über, I vill need you to disrobe." Medic explained, I gave him a discomforted look. "You do not have to vorry about zhat vith me, I refuse to take advantage of my patients. Just your top anyway." I took a deep breath and removed my shirt and bra. I turned a little red.

"Please lie down on zhe table." Medic instructed, which I obeyed, I found the metal table to be quite cold. I saw Medic grab a scalpel and start to move it close to my chest. I panicked.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" I yelled as I quickly sat up and covered my chest.

"I am about to perform an Über surgery." Medic explained

"I never agreed to any surgery!" I shouted.

"But it must be done! Vithout zhe Über, you vill not be able to respawn! If you die, vhich is very likely, you vill not come back." Medic tried to explain, but I wouldn't listen. I quickly got off the table, grabbed blanket that was sitting on a nearby medical bed, and ran. I threw the blanket over my shoulders to cover my chest. The hallway seemed eerily quiet and I reached the broom closet and hid inside. I could sense Medic came to look for me so I held my breath, thankfully he passed by the closet with noticing me inside.


	5. Preparation

I don't know how long I actually stayed sitting down in the broom closet, but it seemed like hours. I couldn't have surgery... not after... what happened. The door quickly opened and I jumped back, only to find Heavy standing over me.

"What is leetle girl doing in broom closet?" Heavy asked.

"I'm playing hide-and-seek." I replied as a poor excuse for...well...an excuse.

"Heavy is not dumb, I heard Docktor calling your name and looking for you. What is wrong leetle girl?" Heavy questioned

"I am afraid of surgeries. I can't tell you why but I just am." I replied.

"You need not be afraid of surgeries Leetle girl. I have gone through it, we all have! It turned out alright." Heavy explained "You are lucky your surgery did not happen in back of moving van, that happened to Engie when he first got here and he was not that happy." I laughed. "I will come with you to surgery." Heavy stated. I smiled and stood up. As we walked closer to the lab, I started having an anxiety attack and began to hyperventilate. Heavy was in front of me so I just started creeping away, in hopes I could avoid this. When I ran face first into a door that was opened a little too fast. I stood there rubbing my forehead when I heard the boston accent speak up.

"Omigosh Tress! I didn't see you dere! You okay?." Scout asked. I nodded my head. "What are ya doin out here?"

"Leetle girl is trying to avoid surgery, she is afraid of them." I heard Heavy say behind me.

"C'mon Tress, you gotta get dis surgery done." Scout stated, "Tell ya what, I will not leave your side the entire surgery." I looked up.

"Really?" I asked.

"Yup! Promise." Scout confirmed.

"Alright…" I cautiously answered as I started walking towards the lab. I felt Scout come up from behind me and grab my hand, I quickly looked at him with a shocked look on my face but he looked back at me and gave me a smile while he squeezed my hand. When we got to the lab Scout explained the situation to Medic who said he would put me under for the surgery, Scout said he would hold my hand until I woke up and I agreed. I laid down on the table and Medic gave me the shot that would put me to sleep, I started to slowly drift off and fall asleep but not before I felt Scout squeeze my hand again.

*Time skip* (lame I know)

I woke with a jolt and looked around me, I was in a bed in the Medical Bay. I checked my chest and discovered a large sized scar going from under my left breast to my right hip. I saw Scout sitting in a chair, resting his head on the edge of the bed I was in, asleep. He was also holding my hand. I nudged him a little and he sprung up.

"Oh... You're up Tress." Scout said as he yawned and stretched. "We were worried you wouldn't wake up."

"How long was I out?" I asked, quickly looking around in attempt to find a clock.

"You've been out 4 hours." Medic interrupted, "I might have accidently given you stronger sedatives than ve anticipated. My mistake. You vere only supposed to be out 1 hour." I rolled my eyes with a laugh and stood up.

"So the surgery is done?" I asked.

"Ja." Medic answered "Now you should go see Soldier Frauline, he vants to see how you fight." I nodded and walked towards the door.

I made my way to what looked like a training gym and saw Soldier standing in the middle, so I walked up to him.

"Now listen up MAGGOT." Soldier yelled "If it were up to ME, you would not be fighting in this war! The battlefield is an unforgiving, bloody hell hole and no place for a woman, but according to Miss Pauling, I have no choice. So I will be making sure WE don't have to babysit your ass on that battlefield." I groaned at how stupid Soldier sounded. "I want you to fight me, use any method you can. When you can't take any more, tap out. Only rule is no guns. I just need to see how weak you are."

"Taking you down will be exceedingly simple." I scoffed under my breath

"What was that MAGGOT?!" Soldier yelled.

"I just said it would be easy to take you down." I restated, this time louder.

"I have no intentions of getting beat by a girl maggot" Soldier said with a confident tinge in his voice

"If you're so confident, have a few of the other guys come watch." I laughed.

"Alright..." Soldier motioned towards the house and Sniper, Pyro and Scout came to watch. Pyro waved to me and I waved back with a smile, Soldier took advantage of me being distracted and tackled me. I felt a burning sensation in my chest area which would probably be a future bruise.

"You know I was going to go easy on you until you made that snide comment." I heard Soldier scoff.

"Oh it's fine, I haven't even gotten started yet." I yelled.

"What are you going to do? Punch me?" Soldier insulted.

"No..." I said as I started assembling an earth elemental. I quickly finished and looked at Soldier. "He is" I pointed at Soldier "Hurt, but don't kill." My elemental stomped towards Soldier who suddenly looked very scared but decided not to show it.

"You think I'm scared of a pile of rocks Private?" Soldier nervously laughed.

"No... But you should be." I said with a smile. I saw the elemental wind up its punch and Soldier tapped out. I held up my hand and the elemental was reduced to a pile of rocks and dirt. I looked over my shoulder and saw Sniper and Scout standing with mouths open in shock, Pyro was clapping and laughing. I walked over to the small group, leaving Soldier staring at the ground, probably angry that he tapped out to a girl.

"So that's the reason they call you Enchantress, ain't that right Shelia?" Sniper asked.

"Yes." I replied.

"Like… Can ya do a bunch of tricks?" Scout asked, obviously fascinated.

"Well, I can control elements, lightning, I can levitate stuff, I can heal people, I can even summon a weapon made of pure, condensed energy... Just some random spells." I explained with a shrug.

"And... You can do these forever?" Sniper questioned.

"Well... I only have so much mana, or magical power, when it runs out, I can't cast my spells." I replied. Pyro tapped me on the shoulder and I turned to him to see him holding a lit match out to me. I smiled and held out my hands, sucking in the fire from the match and forming it into a smaller version of my fire elemental. The mini-elemental looked at me, awaiting directions.

"Whatever they want." I said while gesturing towards Pyro. "Just be careful and don't cause an inferno." The elemental floated over over to Pyro, who jumped up and down in excitement and gave it a hug. The elemental hugged Pyro back and they ran off together.

"I think you made someone a new best friend." Scout said as he grabbed my hand.


	6. First Battle

We walked back inside and I saw Engie, Medic and Spy sitting at the table, playing a card game, I walked to the table and sat down.

"How'd it go Tress?" Engie asked, not breaking concentration from his game.

"Soldier tapped out." I replied with a laugh.

"How!?" Engie exclaimed, "I have never seen Soldier tap out to anyone! How did you get him to do it?"

"She cheated." Soldier huffed "She got her 'Elemental' to do any actual work."

"It follows your rules," Engie shrugged "You said no guns, she didn't use a gun." I laughed. Demo walked in with a sheepish look on his face, Miss Pauling followed him.

"Tress, I apologize if I violated ya in anyway." Demo apologized.

"As for the rest of you," Miss Pauling stated

"If I hear any more about Tress being sexually assaulted, the administrator agreed to have it so the perpetrator has to pay a $500 fine that goes straight from their salary into hers" Demo sheepishly looked down out of shame. "Now eat and rest up Tress, it's your first battle tomorrow and I want you to be ready." I nodded and did what was instructed.

*Timeskip*

I woke up to the sound of an alarm. An annoying one that kept blaring and would not stop. I looked at the clock and it read 5:00 a.m, it was hard for me to get up early, but I guess I had to. I groaned as I rolled out of bed. I had a 10 minute shower and slid on my corset, skinny jeans and jumped into some comfortable shoes. I quickly put up my hair in a ponytail and made my way downstairs.

" Are you ready maggot?" Soldier yelled as I stepped into the kitchen.

"Ya" I grumpily replied, still irritated from waking up so early.

"Well go ahead and eat something, you'll need your strength." Soldier stated

I nodded and checked the fridge and found some eggs, I shrugged and whipped up some scrambled eggs. As I was eating I saw the other mercs come down and grab something small to eat. Scout sat down beside me and grabbed my hand.

"10 MINUTES MAGGOTS" Soldier yelled. I quickly cleaned and put away my dishes.

"Ya got everything Tress?" Scout asked as he put on his headset and grabbed his bat, his scattergun, and his pistol.

"Yup, I got it all in here." I replied while gesturing to my hands. Scout smiled and led me to tell giant white van outside the compound, it read "Red's Bread" on the side. I got on and Scout sat next to me, the rest of the mercs joined us while Medic got into the driver's seat and Heavy rode shotgun.

"Today Maggots," Soldier stated when the van started moving, "we are doing King of the Hill, then Capture the Flag."

"These sound like kids games and not what I signed up for." I retorted

"They are the codenames for the different tasks we have to do." Engie explained "In King of the Hill, we have to capture and hold down a point for a certain amount of time. In Capture the Flag, we have to go to Blu's base, capture their intelligence, and bring it back to our base, all the while protecting our intelligence from being stolen by Blu." I nodded in understanding. Soldier rattled on about instructions, I didn't really pay attention until he mentioned me.

"Tress for King of the Hill I want you protect the point once we capture it, stay on it, we will help pick off the Blu's coming at you, use your ward of yours to your advantage." I nodded "In Capture the Flag I want you to sneak in with Spy and Scout while the rest of us distract the Blu's." Soldier explained a little more as we pulled into the broken building. We got out the van and walked towards a small secluded building. Inside was pretty bare, except the locker that was filled to the brim with extra ammo and medical supplies.

"This is zhe respawn room." Medic explained "In the likely event zhat you die, you vill respawn here. Also, if you are low on health, call Medic and I vill try to come heal you if I can."

"Alright." I replied with a smile.

"ONE MINUTE MAGGOTS!" Soldier yelled.

"You ready for this Tress?" Scout asked as he got into position.

"I hope to god so." I replied as I heard the voice of the administrator start to count down. I got into position and took a deep as the administrator counted "five" "four" "three" "two" "one". The gate opened and I bolted out side.

"Get behind us leetle girl!" I heard Heavy yell, I nodded and slowed down so I could stay behind Heavy. We made our way to the capture point, Heavy absorbing most of the bullets and damage and me healing him. My team captured the point and I stood on it like I was told so I could protect it. I saw the Blu Scout run up to me, looking like he was ready attack but stopped and laughed.

"This is their secret weapon? A hot babe?! This is precious!" The Scout giggled. I shook my head.

"I'm more than that." I laughed as I shocked him with lightning, he went down easily. I could see Blu Mercs coming in from both sides of the point, so I quickly put up two wards with both hands to stop the bullets. I started to panic as I couldn't cast spells, my hands were occupied with the wards. I started to panic until I heard so loud explosions, I looked and saw Soldier and Demo taking out the guys trying to get to the point. Seeing I was safe, I took down my ward, I celebrated until... BOOM.

I popped back in the respawn room.

"What the hell?!" I yelled out loud, despite being alone. I looked at the bulletin board in the room which read "Sniper Enchantress" between the two names was a small picture of a figure getting shot in the head.

"Damn" I said under my breath.

"The Enemy has captured the point" I heard the administrator say. Soldier and Demo popped next to me in the room.

"Bloody Pyro." Demo grumbled

"What happened?" I asked

"We got ambushed Private, no matter." Soldier explained "Good job holding the point so long!"

"But I lost it..." I shamefully said, Demo smiled.

"Lassie, you're stuck with us for a while whether you like it or not, stuff like this happens! We can get the point back." Demo stated. "We just need a plan."

"I can freeze them and you guys blow them to kingdom come..." I suggested

"Sounds good to me Private." Soldier smiled. We ran out the gate, me going a little ahead of them, I wasn't weighed down by weapons. I snuck around the back with the guys in tow, making sure to keep extra quiet. The Blu's were on the point, distracted by the Red mercs and their failed attempts to re-capture the point. I silently ran up-to them and quickly blasted them with ice. Demo sent a few grenades and Soldier let loose a few rockets, the Blu's exploded. The three of us captured the point and cheered, the point only had thirty seconds left. We waited patiently, being wary for Snipers and Spies. At long last, we heard it.

"Victory." The Administrator announced. Soldier and Demo celebrated and I heard the distant cheers of the other Mercs from other places on the map.

"Many thanks Private." Soldier said while slapping me on the back, "we couldn't have done it without you."

"No problem." I replied with a smile, "I'm apart of this team now and stuck with you guys whether I like it or not, so working with you guys comes with that." Soldier gave a small smile.

"Yo Tress dat was epic!" I heard a voice say from behind me, I turned to find Scout walking up to me. "I think our losing streak is finally over fellas! Thanks to this find. The Blu's won't know what hit em'"

"I think you mioght be rioght." Sniper said as he walked up to the group, "but we gotta go, time for Capture The Flag." We all followed Sniper to the van and got in, this time Engie was driving with Pyro in shotgun.

We drove for a while again and entered another respawn room similar to the last.

"Remember what you have to do Tress?" Soldier asked

"Sneak in with Spy and Scout." I replied.

"Your not as dim as I thought Private." Soldier commented

"Thanks?" I asked

"Over here Tress!" Scout while motioning towards him, I walked over to him and saw Spy leaning against a wall smoking a cigarette. "Your startin' to get the hang of this, ready to sneak in?" Scout asked.

"As ready as I can be, I guess." I replied. I heard the Administrator countdown again and I followed Scout until him, Spy and I were beside the second opening of the Blu base.

"I will go in and and sap the sentry, I want you both around the corner so we can dispose of the Engineer as soon as he realizes his sentry is down." Spy explained. We nodded and walked down the stairs so we were close but out of sight. Spy turned invisible and we heard

"Spy's sappin' mah sentry!" At that cue Scout and I ran out from behind the corner. I materialized my sword and stabbed the Engineer and Scout beat him with his bat. It didn't take long for him to die. I heard Heavy barge in, able to now that the sentry was down.

"Scout, you and Tress go! Heavy will protect you!" Heavy yelled as he slowly ran towards us.

"C'mon Tress!" Scout yelled as he handed me the intelligence, "bring this back to the base." I nodded and ran out of the blue base with Scout in tow, I could hear some Blu mercs coming and panicked.

"Scout you take it!" I said as I dropped the intelligence, "I'll hold them off!"

"You sure you got dis babe?" Scout asked, grabbing the intelligence, but with a worried look in his eye.

"Totally!" I replied with nervous laughter. Scout smiled and ran towards the base. I quickly set up a ward and deflected the rockets of the incoming Soldier. The Soldier stopped in front of me and a Heavy plodded up as well.

"Who is this Leetle girl?" The Blu Heavy asked with a hearty laugh

"She should be in the kitchen! Not on the on the battlefield!" The Blu Soldier barked. I raised my hand, showing I held fire, and looked them straight in the eye.

"I'm the Enchantress bitch." I almost whispered in my most demonic voice possible. I shot my fire at the two and put up a ward. The Heavy tried to shoot me while he was losing health but soon ran out of bullets. The soldier had already died. I took down my ward and materialized a large knife instead of my sword. I jumped on the Heavy and stabbed him in the back on the neck. His lifeless body slumped to the ground and I walked away, my knife of condensed magic still stuck in his neck.

"You have captured the intelligence" I heard the administrator announce, I silently cheered. I hurried back to the Blu base but was stopped by Scout.

"This way babe!" Scout motioned "Let's ambush the Blus!"

"I don't think we have enough people for an ambush." I replied, a little wary.

"You're worth five people Enchantress, you got dis." Scout insisted.

"If you think so..." I said but stopped, Scout never called me Enchantress, it was always 'Tress' or 'babe'.

"Hey Scout... Don't you always call me..." I started to question but was interrupted by Scout grabbing my arm and twisting around my back.

"What are you doing?!" I yelped, my arm in pain.

"Something I should have done a while ago..." Scout whispered as I felt his hand roughly grab my ass

"No! Stop!" I cried out in panic as I tried to summon my sword, but I felt a knife against my back.

"Do anything, and I will kill you." Scout intently whispered


	7. The Aftermath

"Get your hands off me!" I hissed at Scout, trying to hold back tears, "I thought you actually liked me."

"Why would I like you?" Scout questioned

"You were so nice me…" I whispered through sobs

"I was only nice to you so I could get some, though that doesn't seem to be getting anywhere, so I guess I'll take some instead!" He said through a grin as he free hand undid my corset. I struggled, trying to pull away but Scout only dug the knife deeper into my back, by now I was bleeding. He managed to get my corset off and ripped away my blouse, he was surprisingly strong for such a skinny guy, but that wasn't something to be concerned with at the moment. I threw my head forward and hit Scout in the face, he let go for a moment and fell to his knees. I tried to run away but he grabbed my ankles and I fell. He grabbed my hips and pulled me towards him, I could feel my jeans being ripped off and something hard being pressed against my lower regions. I raised my arm to summon my weapon.

"What did I say?!" Scout yelled as he raised the knife.

"I don't care!" I yelled back with tears in my eyes, "It's better than being raped by someone you thought cared about you."

"Whatever." Scout shrugged as he thrust the knife into my back.

I felt the horrible pain then popped back into the respawn room. I looked around and found Scout at the ammo locker.

"WHAT THE HELL?" I screamed as I summoned fire and ran at Scout. He turned around to find me pinning him against the wall.

"What did I do?" He asked, as if he no memory of what just happened.

"HOW DO YOU NOT REMEMBER?" I yelled while hitting him in the chest, "You practically raped me! Why would you do that?" I cried out as tears rolled my face.

"It wasn't me I swear!" Scout defended.

"There's only one RED Scout right? Well it was a RED Scout who did it!" I sobbed. Scout slipped out of my grasp and walked to the bulletin board.

"It was a damn Spy." Scout sighed

"Then why did he look like you?" I questioned.

"Did nobody tell you? That's what Spies do! They sneak around, either invisible or disguised as one of the members of the other team, then they stab you in the back. It wasn't me who violated you I promise, I would never do that! I… I like you too much for that" Scout explained as he took me into his arms.

"Victory!" The Administrator announced.

"Looks like we're done for the day!" Scout sighed, "Do you want me to stay with you when we get back to base?" I nodded.

I didn't say anything as we left the respawn room and made our way back to the base. I went straight back to my room as soon as we got to the base. I cried for a long time, the image of Scout doing awful things to me was still in my head, even though it wasn't him, I would never be able to forget it. After a while, I heard a knock on the door and I opened it to find Scout with two plates of food.

"Permission to enter?" Scout asked

"Permission granted…" I replied, he walked in and handed me the plate of lasagna as he sat on the floor. I sat next to him but stared at my food.

"Is something wrong with it?" Scout asked concerned

"No…" I replied, I looked at him. From his expression I could tell I surprised him with my red eyes and blotchy face. He put down his plate of food and took mine out of my hands and put it on the floor. He then put his arms around me to comfort me, this time, it worked.

"I'm sorry this happened to you…" Scout apologized, "I'm sorry that you thought I did it... "

"Did you tell the others?" I asked, knowing I would have been crying at that point but couldn't as all my tears were gone.

"Yes.. They are pissed at the BLU Spy. Spy couldn't believe his counterpart would do something that despicable. Demo is ashamed that he ever attempted something like that. All the others want to kill the BLU Spy themselves, we all care about you Tress…" Scout explained. I gave a weak smile. "I only have one question, when Demo did it, you seemed fine, but when this happened, it's really affecting you… Why is this one different?"

"This time, I thought it was you… The Spy disguised as you said you were only nice to me was so you get with me. I didn't want to believe it, but I had no other option, you were saying it right to me, at least I thought it was you at the time. I thought someone I really cared about was about to do something like that." I replied.

"I would never do that to you… can I confess something?" Scout asked, I nodded, "I'm in love with you… I started falling for you when I first saw you, I tried ignoring it because I knew a relationship couldn't work, that's why I acted so happy when you showed up at the base. I thought for the first time in a long time, I could be happy, because I knew you could make me happy. All I want in the world is for you to be safe and happy, that alone will make me happy," He said with a smile. All I could do was weakly smile back. "Something is wrong, isn't there?" Scout asked.

"Well of course, today was pretty awful," I replied.

"No… I mean something else…" Scout questioned in a slightly worried tone

"There's always something wrong, I'm just really good at hiding it," I respond.

"What's wrong? How do I help?" Scout pled.

"I'm past that point, you can't," I replied with a weak smile.

"But I have to!" Scout insisted.

"Thank you… but I am so incredibly fucked up that I am a really hard person to care that deeply about. Everything I haven't told you yet will only push you away further and further. I would much rather live in this happy ignorant bliss, trying to forget everything about who I was then explaining what happened leading up to now, it would only serve as an excruciating reminder." I explain, "I care about you a lot, but I don't want my reality to become yours. I would never be able to forgive myself if I put you through that," Scout only responded by hugging me into his chest, I tried to resist but he refused so I buried my face into his chest. He smelled a tiny bit of sweat and gunpowder, as unappealing as that sounds, it was extremely comforting. We just stayed like that for a while. Eventually, Scout spoke again,

"Tress, I have no idea what you're going through, but I want you to know that you don't have to do it alone. Even if it's not me, I guarantee the other guys would be willing to help as well. We're a team, even if don't always get along, we're ready to be there for each other, as cheesy as that sounds," Scout says with a smirk, "Promise me you'll come for help if or when you'll need it?" I don't say anything but nod slightly. "Do you want to eat now? We've had a long day," I sit up and agree, we eat our food which, despite being cold, was really good. After we finish we both head downstairs, despite some resistance from me. As soon as we get to the kitchen, Pyro is there to greet me with a hug and some cookies, which I don't reject. Heavy escorts the dishes from my hands and pats me on the back and Miss Pauling is there to greet me.

"I'm so sorry… maybe hiring you was a mistake…" She sheeply suggests.

"I don't think so," I respond, "I just have to learn how to protect myself better,"

"You're perfectly capable of that, but I didn't realize at the time that some of guys haven't seen women for a couple years and I had no idea they would respond like this," Miss Pauling explains as she shoots Demo a glare.

"Please don't fire me," I plead, "despite the hiccups, I love this job."

"I won't be doing that," Miss Pauling acknowledged "We haven't been doing this good for a while and losing you could be devastating," I breathed a sigh of relief as Miss Pauling left.

Scout pulled me into a hug and buried his face in my neck.

"Thank god," I heard him whisper. When he finally pulls away, I tell him I'm turning in and give him a small peck on the cheek. I get ready and slip into bed, ready for a peaceful night, unfortunately, that's not what I got.

_I'm sitting on the couch, my Mom next to me, my Dad walks in and hands me a present._

"_Happy Birthday Chick-a-dee!" He says with a smile, I giggle at the nickname he has for me. "I can't believe my baby girl is already 7 years old!" He exclaims as I take the present and open it, they're new pencils._

"_Thank you so much Papa!" I shout as I jump into his arms for a hug._

"_Of course Chick-a-dee! Only the best for my girl. Now, why don't you show me what you can do with those?" He remarks, I nod excitedly and grab a piece of paper to start scrawling out another drawing. My Mom smiles and gives me a kiss on the forehead before she walks to the kitchen to make dinner. I watch her go but she suddenly stops and turns into a cloud of dark smoke, I get up and walk towards her but can't quite reach her, I look to my Dad but the same has happened to him. Suddenly I'm surrounded by a cloud of the dark smoke and yell for my parents in a fit of panic. The smoke drifts away and I find myself still standing in my living room, only it's darker and I'm holding something. As my eyes adjust to the light I realize I'm holding a knife with a dark red liquid dripping off of it, I quickly turn on the lamp to find my parent's, or at least their bodies, mutilated on the floor surrounded by a dark red stain in the carpet. My Mom was missing an arm, half her face, and it looked like she had been stabbed, a lot. While my Dad didn't have a head and was missing both an arm and a leg. I dropped to my knees and start bawling, I notice that the formal, blue dress I was wearing was covered in the same, mysterious dark red liquid. I look on my Mom's face, or what's left of it, and see no fear, only pain and sadness. Suddenly, the same black smoke rises from her mouth and takes form of a large figure, I don't resist as it reaches its arms towards my chest and touches me. I scream at the excruciating pain_

I wake up with a jolt, tears rushing down my face, I subconsciously touch my chest and feel the scar. Scout rushes in.

"Tress! What's wrong? I heard you scream!" He frantically exclaims.

"I just... had a nightmare," I declare, out of breath for some reason.

"Oh, Ok, if that's all it was…" Scout starts to say

"Please stay with me…" I quickly reply.

"Oh… yea, sure." Scout answers as he walks toward me. He gets into bed with me and puts his arm around me, I breath a sigh of relief, for the first time in a long time, I don't have to deal with that dream alone. "Care to tell me what your nightmare was about?" Scout questions.

"Maybe someday," I respond as Scout's breathing and heartbeat lull me back to sleep again.


End file.
